25.1.11

A little thought on Exigency

I was casually sitting on the "couches" outside Thorley Recital Hall and thoroughly enjoying some chips and salsa from Cafe Rio when my mind flashed to what I had to get done. A flood gate of "to do's" raced into my mind and I determined that doing my English homework that exact moment in time would probably benefit me greatly.

Can I tell you a secret? I have this new goal this semester to do my homework the day I get it. Ya know, to relieve some stress and just get it done to create more free time. And I am here to report that this little decision has been one of the best ones of my life that I have made academically. I tried to do it in high school, but most of the time I went back to my good ole procrastination method that I had been doing for years and waiting till I absolutely had to do it. So, college= new start and new homework/get it done style. It's a great success!

Anyways. So I look at what assignment is due next class and find that we are, get again, supposed to read another chapter and also need to begin working on our blog for the class.

Say what? A blog?

Ha ha! Only the best assignment ever because I blog all the time! Yipee! Happiness all around.

I get to reading the chapter and actually find some extremely interesting thoughts. Might I share them with you? The hot topic on top of Little Besty's mind today is....

Exigency.

Before I read over the definition I was guessing it possibly had something to do with existence...being a human being and knowing the reason why you're here...they all seemed like good options. As I read on, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the true definition was: a situation that causes a writer to write.

At this point, I'm guessing a good part of the world would say, "The only reason I write is because I was given a crazy assignment that is making me sit down at that computer and produce something that might get some decent points". And I can respect that. I haven't always gotten butterflies at the thought of writing an essay that is very difficult. However if you are someone who jumps at the thought of ink smoothly spreading over a piece of paper or fingers typing at the computer, then the meaning of exigency could have very well send a shiver up your spine.

Now here is the big question: what situations causes me to want to write?

It will be my pleasure to tell you. ;)

Sometimes I simply write to vent. My mind is about to explode and if I keep it bottled up, the world will see some serious "allytude" from Miss Best. Maybe the only reason I sit down to the computer is to get out all my thoughts because a blank document will always listen.

However, here is my biggest inspiration for writing. The world around us serves as my masterpiece. Simple human interaction and involvement sparks an interesting thought or emotion, and I have a go at it and write about it. Maybe it's the way my little friend is fascinated with her light up shoes or how a boy at the cafeteria helped a girl move her meal to another table, simply because he wants to be helpful and care about another human being. With those thoughts, I run with it and let my mind go wild with my fingers on a keyboard or around a pen to serve as a transcriber of my thoughts. Kinda cool, eh?

Now what about those essays and summaries and presentations for school? How to you find inspiration for that? I used to ask myself the same question until I found the answer. Every assignment, no matter how specific or broad, can be related to someone in some way. Maybe I know nothing about science and have to write some thesis about it. I can find a way that science makes something I love possible to exist and with that, I have something to write about. Then when I'm finding out how those leaves change color that I love to play in and crunch under my shoes, I soon realize I'm writing about something that I love with an original assignment that scared me. Anything is possible.

With that being said, I plan to do every assignment with a power of exigency behind it. My exigency will not only be because I need to do the assignment for a grade, but more importantly because I have something to say and I need to let the world know about it.